The Ultimate Guide to The Best Music Festivals of 2022 and 2023
There's nothing quite like experiencing live music. The energy of the crowd, the excitement of seeing your favorite artist perform, and the sense of community that comes from sharing a love of music with others are all part of what makes live music so special. And for many music lovers, attending a music festival is the ultimate live music experience.
With multiple stages and dozens (or even hundreds) of bands performing over the course of several days, music festivals offer an unbeatable mix of variety and quantity. But with so many festivals to choose from, it can be hard to know which ones are worth attending.
That's why we've put together this list of the best music festivals in the country. From coast to coast, these festivals offer something for every type of music fan, whether you're into rock, hip-hop, or anything in between.
As the year winds down, you can catch some truly unmissable festivals over the next few months. At the same time, plan ahead and get your calendar sorted to potentially have the experience of your lifetime at some of the festivals scheduled for 2023.
2022
1Austin City Limits Music Festival
Dates
7-9 October and 14-16 October, 2022
Buy tickets here
- No minimum age to attend.
- Children 10 and under can enter free with a ticketed adult.
- It is taking place at Zilker Park, Austin, Texas. The venue is outdoor and has a capacity of 75,000 people per day.
- The largest attendance ever is 450,000.
- The overarching genres of music at the festival are rock, country, electronic and hip-hop.
Age, venue and genre
- Back in 2002 when the festival first started, you could snag weekend tickets for $25.
- As Austin City Limits continued to grow over the years, Zilker Park’s grass couldn’t handle the influx of people. Mud pits formed and finding transportation grew difficult, so a second weekend was born to divvy out attendees.
- Austin City Limits also has an art market running all day where you can buy from local artisans, and some even offer the chance to make your own flower crowns or send out custom postcards.
- Artists who are in town to perform will often put on secret shows at local venues after the festival winds down.
- Austin City Limits was inspired by a PBS TV show called Austin City Limits.The longest-running music program in television history and the only television show to have been awarded the Presidential Medal of the Arts.
- While 2021's fest had some buzzworthy artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and Austin’s Black Pumas and headliners that can draw big crowds – Strait, Stallion, and Eilish – it was definitely a slimmed down year. It still showcased amazing artists and had some new additions that make us excited to see what comes next for the fest in 2022.
- As the ‘live music capital of the world’ it wouldn’t quite be Austin if each show wasn’t put on completely and creatively live.
- The talent in 2019 spanned an amazing range of artists, as reported by KEXP.
- Read on here for a brief history of the music festival!
2Amsterdam Dance Event(ADE)
- Most of the club venues require you to be a minimum of 18 to enter. Check each venue's guidelines before reserving your ticket.
- There are over 100 venues, with each having their own capacity and rules.
- The largest attendance ever is over 400,000.
- The overarching genre is Electronic.
Age, venue and genre
- Headliners: Afrojack, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, The Blessed Madonna, CloZee, Alan Walker, Camo & Crooked, Oliver Heldens, Sasha, Seth Troxler.
- View this year's entire lineup and schedule here.
- The first ADE was held in 1996. In 1996, the event had only one venue, a hotel on the Vijzelgracht in central Amsterdam, and served as a business event for members of the Dutch music industry. Due to its success, it was brought back a year later.
- The Amsterdam Dance Event transformed itself for 2020, doing something completely different from all previous events. This was via a new digital platform, though, it still featured a variety of its traditional content including interactive workshops and masterclasses, documentaries and films, and live performances.
- Every year, the DJ MAG Top 100 is announced during the Amsterdam Dance Event. The list ranks the world’s best DJs, all of which are elected by the audience.
- ADE also hosts several dance music-related exhibitions, festivals, documentaries, master classes, and DJ showcases.
- Get a glimpse of ADE through the years here.
- 3 performances that are worth being relived from ADE 2018.
- Industry insiders choose their best moments in ADE history.
- Read on here for a brief history of the music festival!
3Pitchfork Music Festival
- No minimum age.
- Children 10 and under can enter free with a ticketed adult.
- There are multiple venues for the events in London and Germany.
- It is taking place at La Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris. It is an indoor venue and has a capacity of 5000.
- There are multiple genres of music on display across the venues.
Age, venue and genre
- It is a great place to discover under-the-radar Indie artists and upcoming talents in the hip-hop arena.
- The festival is making its debut in Berlin this year, and the first edition in London was last year.
- It is considered a low-key version of Lollapalloza!
- The Highs, Lows, and Whoas of Pitchfork Festival 2021.
- 7 Highlights From Pitchfork Music Festival London 2021.
- 14 Great Pitchfork Fest Performances from Artists Before They Blew Up
- The best moments from Pitchfork Music Festival 2022 in Chicago.
4Corona Capital Festival
- No minimum age to attend. However, the festival recommends attendees to be a minimum age of 16.
- It is taking place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The venue is outdoor and has a capacity of 110,000 people per day.
- The largest attendance ever is 180,000.
- The overarching genres of music at the festival are rock and pop.
Age, venue and genre
- Headliners: Arctic Monkeys, Miley Cyrus, Paramore, The Kooks, Two Door Cinema Club, The 1975, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MØ, Foals, Lil Nas X.
- View this year's entire lineup and schedule here.
- Corona Capital offers a range of acts from electronic and pop, to indie and rock. While that lineup formula may sound typical for a music festival, many of the acts who play Corona Capital rarely get a chance to perform in Mexico. But Corona Capital offers them the chance to do it—and for local audiences to enjoy the show.
- Poor weather and complaints from fans about the concert's faulty electronic bracelets marked Corona Capital 2014, as crowds waded through several inches of water to watch their favourite artists perform!
- In 2019, the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City, Mexico, sold more than 180 thousand tickets and generated a revenue of 12.23 million U.S. dollars. It was the second highest grossing music festival in Latin America in 2019.
- Khruangbin was a highlight of Corona Capital 2021.
- The event featured artists ranging from LCD Soundsystem to Tegan And Sara to Lana Del Rey to The Killers, but the acts had more than performing a concert on their plate.
- 10 noteworthy performances at Corona Capital 2016.
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2023
1Coachella
- No minimum age to attend.
- Minors are to be accompanied by adults 18 and above.
- It is taking place at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The venue is outdoor and has a capacity of 125,000 people per day.
- The largest attendance ever is 125,000.
- The overarching genres of music at the festival are rock, country, electronic and hip-hop.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd.
- View 2022's entire lineup here.
- The first festival only cost $50 a day.
- In 2003, Iggy Pop and the Stooges came together for a show at Coachella after having disbanded back in 1974. Rage Against the Machine performed together after a seven-year hiatus and Mazzy Star after 12 years.
- In 2012, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg brought out the computer-generated version of their old friend Tupac Shakur to accompany their performance.
- To accommodate the growing demand, Coachella was expanded from a two-day festival to a three-day weekend for the first time in 2007.
- In 1999, when the festival first started, it lost $800,000 with a lineup full of esteemed acts like Beck, Tool, The Chemical Brothers, Morrissey and Rage Against the Machine.
- The 18 best things at Coachella 2018,as per Rolling Stones.
- Pitchfork described Coachella 2019 as a festival built for YouTube.
- The return of Coachella in 2022 was filled with surpise stars and COVID concerns, as reported by The Guardian.
- The best moments through the years at Coachella.
- WatchMojo's Top 10 Coachella Performances of all time.
2Glastonbury
- Ages 16+ can attend without a guardian but are advised to make the decision in consultation with a parent/guardian.
- Anyone under 16 needs to be accompanied by an adult.
- It is taking place at Worthy Farm, Pilton in Somerset. The venue is outdoor, has over 100 stages, and has a capacity of 200,000 people per day.
- The largest attendance ever is 300,000.
- There are a large multitude of genres that can be spotted at the festival.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Billie Eilish, Sir Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar, Fleetwood Mac, Noel Gallagher.
- View 2022's entire lineup here.
- The first Glastonbury (then known as The Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival) was held on 19th September 1970. It cost £1 to get in which included free milk from the farm.
- On 26 June 1984, 826 people, each juggling at least 3 objects, managed to keep 2,478 objects in the air to set a Guinness World Record.
- In 2017, 15,000 people gathered at Glastonbury's famous stone circle, to set a record for making the world's biggest human peace sign.
- There is a secret underground subterranean performance space at Glastonbury, named as ‘Underground Piano Bar.’ This can’t be found on the Glastonbury Map either!
- If a band overruns at Glastonbury, the local council get involved because of noise issues for local people living in the nearby area.
- Glastonbury 2022 review: stunning moments, special singalongs and a rumour mill in overdrive.
- The 50 greatest Glastonbury moments ever!
- 10 reasons why Glastonbury 2019 was the best ever.
- The 50 best Glastonbury Festival performances ever.
3Lolapalooza Chicago
- Children under the age of 18 need to be accompanied by an adult.
- Children 10 and under can enter free of charge, accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult.
- It is taking place at Grant Park, Chicago, IL. The venue is outdoor, has 9 stages, and a capacity of 115,000 people per day.
- The largest attendance ever is 400,000.
- There are a large multitude of genres that can be spotted at the festival.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Metallica, Dua Lipa, Green Day, J-Hope.
- View 2022's entire lineup here.
- Lollapalooza was founded by Jane’s Addiction’s vocalist, Perry Farrell, after hearing the word ‘Lollapalooza’ in a movie.
- The fact that Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t invited to play in 1996 resulted in the creation of Ozzfest.
- Lollapalooza makes it’s artists sign a Radius Clause: Lollapalooza’s clause reportedly prohibits performers from having concerts within 300 miles of Chicago for the six months leading up to the festival, and the three months following.
- Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Sweden, the United States of America were the 7 countries privy to Lolapalooza, with India being the latest edition- the first edition scheduled for Jan 2023!
- Lollapalooza has teamed up with Berklee College of Music to provide the Berklee Lollapalooza Endowed Scholarship. The scholarships include an annual four-year full tuition award given to an incoming freshman, a five week full tuition scholarship for the summer session the Berklee Almuni scholarship which allows a Berklee alumni band to perform at Lollapalooza.
- A quick recap of Lollapalooza 2022.
- Why Lollapalooza 2021 was a total dream.
- The 30 most memorable Lollapalooza performances.
4Sziget Festival
- No minimum age to enter.
- Children 11 and under can enter for free with a ticketed adult.
- It is taking place at Óbudai-sziget. The venue is outdoor.
- The largest attendance ever is 556,000.
- The overarching genres prevalent are rock, pop, hip-hop and electronic.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Justin Bieber, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris.
- View past lineups here.
- Sziget lays on a ‘party train’ service from across Europe, complete with on-board DJs, transporting those Szitizens who can’t wait to actually get on to the island to get the festival started.
- In 1993 the entrance price for a daily ticket was around €1.
- To mark the 25th anniversary of Woodstock, Sziget recruited many bands that played the historic fest for what was dubbed EuroWoodstock, including Jefferson Starship, Blood, Sweat And Tears, Jethro Tull, Eric Burdon and Frank Zappa’s band.
- Buda, the hillier side of Budapest which overlooks the island site, is a favoured paragliding spot. One foolhardy glider flew straight onto the site, landing in front of the main stage in 2003. The founder decided to give him a ticket for his bravery/stupidity.
- To ensure the peace of people living nearby the festival venue, the outdoor concerts must end by 11 pm. Concerts after that are held in special soundproof tents.
- Here's the story of what went down at this year's huge, vibrant six-day party across Budapest's Óbuda Island.
- A festival goer's comprehensive review of the festival.
- The best Sziget shows of all time.
- Read on here to learn about the history of the festival.
5Bonnaroo Music Festival
- No minimum age to enter.
- Children 10 and under can enter for free with a ticketed adult.
- It is taking place at Great Stage Park, Manchester, Tennessee, U.S. The venue is outdoor and has a daily capacity of 40,000.
- The largest attendance ever is 80,000.
- The festival is a congregation of multiple genres of music.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Tool, J. Cole, Stevie Nicks, The Chicks, Machine Gun Kelly, Flume.
- View 2022's lineup here.
- “Bonnaroo” is a French-Creole slang word that translates to “best on the street,” and “a really good time.”
- In 2004, the festival reported that it had prevented 120 tons of waste collection through its sustainability strategies, such as its campaigns for festival goers to recycle and the utilization of recyclable drinkware through its food vendors.
- During the festival, it becomes the sixth largest city in Tennessee in terms of number of people.
- Every ounce of water they use comes from wells on-site – nothing is trucked in.
- The Bonnaroo fountain is painted by a new artist every year.
- Here's the story of why Bonnarroo 2019 revived a faltering festival.
- The most legendary moments at Bonnaroo.
- Bonnaroo's 10 best performances ranked.
- Read on here to learn about the history of the festival.
6Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC)
- 18 is the minimum age to enter.
- No minors allowed.
- It is taking place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The venue is outdoor and has a daily capacity of 135,000.
- The largest attendance ever is 410,000.
- It is one of the foremost Electronic music festivals.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: ILLENIUM, Zedd, Porter Robinson, Armin van Buuren, Charlotte de Witte.
- View 2022's lineup here.
- 225 legal weddings have been performed at EDC Las Vegas.
- Fans from over 96 countries attend EDC Las Vegas each year.
- Approximately 9,400 fireworks are set off over the three nights of the festival.
- It requires 100 forklifts, 70 aerial lifts, 133 light towers, 305 utility and golf carts, and more than 500 motor coaches to get the entire festival in place inside the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- It takes 22.5 megawatts of energy to power the three-day festival- enough energy to power about 14,625 homes.
- Dive into the 8 best moments Of EDC Las Vegas 2022.
- Here are 10 of EDC’s most memorable moments.
- EDC's top 5 sets of all time.
- Read on here to learn about the history of the festival.
7Rock am Ring
- Admission to the event site is not permitted for infants and young children under the age of 8 years.
- Children aged between 8 and 14 years may only attend the concerts if accompanied by a guardian.
- With parental consent, young people aged between 14 and 16 years are admitted unaccompanied by a guardian for concerts until midnight.
- For young people aged 16 years and over, admission to concerts and musical performances after midnight is approved when unaccompanied by a guardian.
- It is taking place at Nürburgring, Otto-Flimm-Straße, Nürburg. The venue is outdoor and has a daily capacity of 150,000.
- The largest attendance ever is 92,500.
- It is one of the foremost Metal and Rock music festivals.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Green Day, Muse,Volbeat.
- View 2022's lineup here.
- Lightning struck fans 2 years in a row at the festival, with 33 people injured in 2014.
- The Rock am Ring festival was temporarily shut down in 2017 following a perceived terror threat.
- It is ranked as the #1 Rock Festival in Germany and is one of the world's best music festivals.
- Festival goers have the option to stay on a campsite during the course of the festival.
- Dive into the 5 historic sets at Rock am Ring.
- Here are 15 performanes that defined Rock am Ring 2019.
- Watch the best performances between 2000-2009 here, as compiled by World Music Festivals.
- Read on here to learn about the history of the festival.
8Ultra Music Festival (UMF)
- Admission reserved for adults aged 18+.
- No minors allowed to enter, with or without an adult.
- It is taking place at Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. The venue is outdoor and has a daily capacity of 165,000.
- The largest attendance ever is 150,000.
- It is one of the foremost Electronic music festivals.
Age, venue and genre
- The lineup for 2023 is yet to be announced. We'll update it here once it's out!
- 2022 Headliners: Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Nicky Romero, Tiësto.
- View 2022's lineup here.
- The Swedish House Mafia played their first live performance at Ultra Music Festival in 2010.
- To celebrate its 15th year, Ultra became the world’s first electronic music festival to take place over two weekends.
- It is named after the 1997 Depeche Mode album, Ultra
- With estimated attendance over 70,000 in 2008, the festival set a new City of Miami record for number of tickets sold at a single event.
- Its first edition in 1999 was on the beach.
- Dive into the 10 ways Ultra Miami 2022 revived the festival's status as a Global Dance Destination.
- Recap the 8 best sets at Ultra 2022.
- Here's why Ultra 2019 was confusing yet spectacular in every way.
- Relive the 10 best sets at Ultra of all time.
- Read on here to learn about the history of the festival.
The bottom line is that music festivals are a great way to see a variety of live music all in one place. They can also be a great opportunity to meet new people and explore different cultures. With so many different festivals to choose from, there’s sure to be one that’s perfect for you. So start planning your trip and get ready to enjoy the music!
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